Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program

A program that builds on your unique strengths.

The Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program (BNLP) is a one-of-a-kind initiative led by the Johns Hopkins Urban Health Institute. We recognize that Baltimore neighborhoods have a wealth of community members with passion, leadership, and vision who know their communities best – and are therefore well positioned to address community problems. However, there are limited resources available at the neighborhood level for leadership training. To address this issue and support emerging leaders, the BNLP will cultivate and train neighborhood-level and community-based leaders to build with them the knowledge, skills, and mentorship to improve neighborhood health outcomes.

Goals

The goal of the Bunting Neighborhood Leadership Program is to develop leaders for improving community health and well-being in East Baltimore. Individually, fellows will have the enhanced knowledge, skills, and values to:

Engage the community – Emphasizing collective power and acting together.

Identify the issue – Be able to conduct needs assessments and issue identification that emphasizes learning from the community.

Deconstruct the issue – Identify the relevant pieces of the issue that can be changed or improved. It is important to know the communities’ strengths/weaknesses/opportunities for change.

Measurable outcomes for change - Be able to develop outcomes for change, develop systems of accountability and measurement, and follow through with a plan.

Core Principles for Training

Fellows identify their learning goals, articulate them, and then commit to accomplishing them.

Fellows will be actively engaged in their own learning through self-study, discovery learning, case studies, and a variety of other strategies.

Peer-learning opportunities will be provided and faculty will structure and facilitate the process.

Faculty will be drawn from across Baltimore’s academic, community-based organizations (CBO), and governmental communities each selected because of their expertise in one or more facets of leadership.

Mentoring, coaching, and technical assistance will help guide fellows in meeting their learning goals.

Application & Selection Details: Fellows should have worked (volunteer or paid) in one of the target communities in East Baltimore (primarily McElderry Park, Middle East, Oliver, Ellwood Park/Madison or Milton/Montford) or West Baltimore (primarily Edmondson Village, Sandtown-Winchester, Franklintown) for a minimum of 3 years. You should be able to demonstrate an ability to work well with others, communicate effectively, and have leadership potential (i.e., vision/goals, strong desire to make an impact, confident, empathetic, etc.).